


Ink Hearts

by Hamatopurity



Series: Save Your Demons [1]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Bendy is a good boi, Blood and Gore, Chapter five spoilers later on, F/F, Gen, M/M, canon x OCs, heavy stuff further down the line, joey is a dick, rewrite AU, slight body horror, soon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-08-25 16:35:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16664326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hamatopurity/pseuds/Hamatopurity
Summary: Henry was surprised to get a letter from old Joey Drew, but curiosity was always his biggest weakness.Now he may regret it.





	1. The New Reel

“Alright Joey, let’s find out what you wanted me to see.” Standing at about 5’6 was a man in his late sixties, he had dark brown skin, a mocha colored afro mostly covered with a purple fedora, he also wore a cyan Hawaiian T-shirt, along with standard sweatpants and black boots, he was also on the plump side.

 

He was Henry Stein, and he now stood in what  _ was  _ Joey Drew Studios, but now it looked more run down and decrepit.

 

As the old man walked, the moldy floorboards creaked, pools of ink dripped and almost seemed to whisper to Henry, it made a chill run down his spine.

 

 There were old posters everywhere, faded and yellowed by time and caked with sticky black ink, there were holes in the walls, some boarded up, some not...but what stuck out there most immediately was the smell.

 

It made the retired animator sick to his stomach and scrunch up his nose, it made him think of the battlefield, back when he was drafted years ago.

 

Henry tried to not think on that, focusing on the sounds of the creaky floorboards and the clunk heard from his metal leg as he walked.

  Now that he was looking around now though, he saw...writing on the wall, scrawled roughly with the ink that was all around the studio, Henry just passed by one that read;

 

**_“Dreams come true.”_ **

 

The veteran shuttered uncomfortably, he just prayed it was just something from Halloween thing Wally forgot to take down or something.

 

Suddenly he stopped, recognition on his features “Hey! It’s my old drawing desk! I used to waste so much time in this ol’ chair…” the old man chuckled with nostalgia before walking further through the studio.

 

“Jeez Joey, where the Hell are ya?” This better not be a prank, he’s too old for this.

 

 Suddenly he turned the corner, and there was a dry erase board with scrawled writing about...gallons of ink? One Saturday the amount increased to over four-hundred! What the hell?!

 

He turned to see a large ink pipe with a hastily drawn  **“watch your step!”** On it, prompting the old man to hop over it with grunt with a loud pop.

 

“Ugh, my damn back…” re-adjusting his fedora before walking through the doorway.

It was less of a room and more of a large chamber, a lever and two slots for power cores stood, deciding he may as well see what it was about, grabbed one power core from a shelf and another from the chest next to it, inserted the cores and pulled down the lever.

 

Large, rusty chains rose and pulled more and more until, from the dark abyss below, a large, hulking machine, with black tubes and a tank attached rose up, steam breathed off the massive contraption as it came to a stop, on the side were the words…

 

“The ink machine? Huh...must be some way to turn it on…” Henry spoke absentmindedly, what possessed him to think this was a good idea? Hell if he knew.

 

 Henry started walking through the inky halls again, hoping he’ll find the instructions for that machine somewhere, gotta be someway to turn it on…

 

At turning a corner, a plank of wood dropped, making the former animator jump “Yeesh! Place is fallin’ apart…”

 

 Then he noticed an old tape recorder...man, he hasn’t seen one of these in decades, may as see what it says he supposed…

 

_ “at this point, I don’t get what Joeys plan is for this company. The animations sure aren’t being finished on time anymore. And I certainly don’t see why we need this machine. It’s noisy, it’s messy. And who needs that much ink anyway? _

 

_ “Also, get this, Joey had each one of us donate something from our work station. We put them on these little pedestals in the break room. To help appease the gods, Joey says. Keep things going. _

 

_ “I think he’s lost his mind, but, hey, he writes the checks. But I tell you what, if one more of these pipes burst, I’m outta here.” _

 

Wally Franks, he’d recognize that voice anywhere; he’d only been on staff for about a year before Henry left, but the absent minded janitor always left quite the impression, though usually out of exasperation on Sammy’s part.

 

 But what the audio log entailed….

 

“Joey, what the hell?! This better be one of his or Jack’s elaborate pranks, dear god…” the old veteran muttered to no one in particular.

 

Deciding to go for the break room since it was his only lead, Henry’s steps creaked under the moldy floorboards, an occasional  _ clank  _ as he walked forward.

 

_ Thud! _

 

Henry jumped when a wooden board dropped from the ceiling, glancing up, he groaned a bit irritably  _ “This place is in need of more than a bit of patch work, I’ll say…” _

 

__ He turned towards the right after stepping over fallen board, what was once the break room, it now was what could only be described as a sacrifice room, at the end of the small room was a large lever, above it was the written words  **_“Ink Machine: Main Power”_ **

 

Next to the lever was a flashing sign with the words  **_“Low-Pressure”_ **

 

Looking around, he noticed images above the pedestals were six images.

 

A doll, a inkwell, a music note, a cog, a wrench, and a book.

 

_ “...I must be insane.” _

 

  After taking moment to wonder what point in his life led him to go around a crumbling animation studio gathering objects to ‘appease the gods’ just to turn on a huge machine of ink.

 

He’d be surprised if not for the fact this was  _ Joey freakin’ Drew _ that set this up, that man was as abnormal as he was oblivious at times…

 

  ...at least he told himself that, Joey was...a tricky fellow, to say the least, when he found Joey, he’s gonna have some  _ very choice words with him. _

 

   ——————————————————————

 

Henry just walked around the corner, but jumped at the cutout of Bendy that was suddenly propped there “Who put this here?”

 

His eyes suddenly drifted across the hall and he froze, slowly, the former animator walked slowly, his organic leg felt like jelly and he felt his knees may buckle at any given moment when he stopped into the room.

 

It was a cold and suffocating space, cramped, only a door to the side stood, the room reeked of ink and what could only be the scent of a rotting corpse.

 

  The aging man looked to the middle of the room, the source of the horrid stench, on a large, wooden table, strapped down with steel, was a limp and absolutely lifeless body of Boris The Wolf, one of the fan favorite characters of the old show, his chest and stomach cut open to reveal protruding ribs, chips and cracks indicating the missing chest cavity, his eyes had cartoonish X’s crossed over them, and where a heart or any organs would be, was a large wrench.

 

  Henry held a hand over his mouth in horror, he bit his tongue just to keep from gagging, he wanted to hurl the more he looked at the horrid sight.

 

  “Oh-oh my  _ god,  _ Joey, what the  _ fuck  _ were you doing?!!” There was no way this was elaborate prank, no one, not even  _ Joey  _ would pull this as some joke, it was just… too horrible!

 

 Boris never did a mean thing to anybody, who in their right  _ mind  _ would think this was even slightly funny?

 

But...seeing the wrench in the cartoon wolf’s chest...god, Henry felt like he was going to be sick…

 

Henry stepped towards the inky corpse as much as he dared, looking away as he did so, until his digits wrapped around the wrench caked in ink, he shuddered as he pulled and the sound of the thick liquid squelching made his stomach churn, ink stuck to the wrench in strings before falling back onto the toon’s corpse.

 

  Giving one last sorrowful glance before leaving with heavy steps he whispered “Sorry old friend...I’ll figure out what’s going on, I promise…”

 

_ And I’ll throttle Joey if he doesn’t give a good explanation for this. _

 

__ The war vet roamed more around the studio, finding a few more items, but stopping when noticed a side room off of where his old desk was, he swore that wasn’t there before!

 

“Did I just...miss that?”

 

 Nevertheless, Henry walked in to find several writing desks “Huh, must’ve taken a few people to replace me after I left…” 

 

 There wasn’t much to the room, other than that though, besides a boarded up bathroom with the door long ripped off the hinges, Henry blinked, and did a double take.

 

He swore he saw pale gold letters on the wall above the toilet...must be old age getting to him…

 

He turned around, the little sketch of his pride and joy from the ol’ studio grinned with that familiar friendly smile and child-like glint in the pie-cut eyes.

 

  “That smile o’ yours always did brighten my day, old friend…” Henry chuckled nostalgically.

 

Under the desk, he quickly found an inkwell and picked it up, he thought he saw the little dancing demon in a different pose, but ignored it as he gave a silent wave to his old creation.

  
  


It doesn’t take long for the old animator to find the rest of the items, setting each on their respective pedestals, when he picked up the Bendy plush, he remembered seeing a button that said  **“Ink Pressure”** in an old projection room.

 

He walks through a short hall to the room, he jumped almost comically when a Bendy cutout leaned over a corner and quickly retreated again.

 

Seeing it laying innocently against the wall with that same cheery smile childish glint in the eyes “Curious little guy, aren’t ‘cha?”

 

 He didn’t notice the projector turning on showing off a dancing Bendy, though there was absolutely  _ no life  _ in that animation, in Henry’s opinion.

 

 He strode over to the large button and quickly pressed it, a large pipe started spilling ink and flooding the tiny room very rapidly, however.

 

“ _ Crap! _ ” Henry uttered as he ducked his head and ran as quickly as he could through the ink, on drier ground, he shook some the ink now staining his clothing.

 

“Ah, jeez…”

 

But, with that done, he made his way back to the ink machine’s main power switch “Here goes nothin…” with a grunt, the short, elderly man pulled the lever down, ink pumping through the pipes.

 

As he made his way to the machine, he did a double take at the room where the Boris corpse was.

 

It was  _ gone. _

 

The risen table empty and the bonds now undone, something or some _ one _ had taken the body out somewhere “What the…”

 

Shaking it off, Henry continued towards the ink machine, but stopped short when he reached it.

 

The entrance was boarded up from the inside.

 

 Now a bit nervous and a little afraid, Henry walked up to the boards when-

 

**SLAM!**

 

 A large, inky form lunged at him, the figure was rather tall and slender, claws adorned its hands, its body dripped with steadily melting ink, it had wide, ivory teeth, that see to be dipped downwards, very familiar horns adorned its head, though one horn was longer and a bit curvier than the other, and it’s eyes, if it even had any at all, were covered with the melting ink.

 

Rather than a lash of its claws, he instead received a forceful push that sent him to the ground on his rear, the creature opened its mouth, only slightly, and it spoke a single word.

 

**_“R u N.”_ **

 

The voice reminded Henry of thick, gurgling liquid with an almost ghostly echo, and while he didn’t know if the word was a threat or a warning, he wasted no time in bolting.

 

Ink rushed everywhere crashing and wrecking everything around the old man, and then, he saw it.

 

The exit, the door slightly ajar with the promise of feeding glowing in its golden light, Henry reached out, trying grab that knob.

 

  And then, he  _ fell. _

 

__ Down and down until he reached an ink pool, he can say goodbye to these clothes…

 

He fell and he fell, until landing with a loud  _ SPLASH!  _ in a ink flooded room, the thick liquid softened his fall a bit; but didn’t mean it stopped his old bones from hurting like hell.

 

With a pained grunt, Henry managed to stand up, the ink up to his stomach, with a groan, the old animator trudged through the thick, oily substance making it hard to really make some distance.

 

  Finally though, he reached a pipe valve, and quickly turned, the ink draining, much to Henry’s relief.

 

 The old veteran was about to press on when he noticed a tape recorder, a little ink stained, but looked operational enough so he walked over clicked play out of curiosity.

 

_ “it’s dark and it’s cold and it’s stuck in behind every single wall now. In some places, I swear this god forsaken ink is clear up to my knees! Who ever thought that these crummy pipes could hold up under this kind of strain either knows something about pressure I don’t, or he’s some kind of idiot. _

 

_  “But the real worst part about all this… are them noises the system makes. Like a dying dog on its last legs. Make no mistake, this place… this… machine… heck this whole darn thing… it just isn’t natural. _

 

_ “You can bet, I won’t be doing anymore repair jobs for mister Joey Drew.” _

 

__ Henry recognizes that voice, Thomas Connor, he worked at Gent and was practically the Studio’s repairman; he was gruff and pretty moody, but he was a good guy to hang around with, he had good advice and knew how to loosen up every once and awhile.

 

 With that thought in mind though, Henry continued, he had to drain a bit more rooms full of ink, until stopping at a room, the way forward was boarded up.

 

On the wall to the side, Henry noticed ink scrawled with the words  **_“The creator lied to us.”_ **

 

That made Henry gulp, god what happened here?

 

  On a wall, Henry noticed an axe and quickly picked it up “This will definitely come in handy.”

 

 With some well timed chops, Henry breezes through until he opened a door to a small room, on the floor was a pentagram with old candles surrounding it, and along the wall were several coffins.

 

It made the pit of Henry’s stomach feel cold, he cautiously walked forward and just when he took a step to the pentagram, there was a loud, screeching ringing and buzzing, his head felt like it’d explode until, just as the room became coated in a dark, black substance.

 

His head was pounding like a fierce drum, various images he didn’t remember flashed through his mind, his breathing quickened until he was hyperventilating and his knees buckled.

 

 And then, darkness.

 

   Unbeknownst to the now unconscious man, something watched him from the shadows.

 

Something with a wide, pearly grin that stretched across its face.


	2. An Eerie Melody

  There was a piercing headache, followed by a loud ringing in the old animator’s ears; Henry groaned as he opened his eyes, his vision blurry.

 

“Ugh...my head...wha’ happened…?” He sat up, rubbing the side of his aching noggen, Henry grabbed his fedora from the ground and placed it back on his head, spotting his axe laying against one of the coffins; he got up with a pained groan.

 

As the former animator grabbed the axe and with a grunt muttered “Well...only one thing left to do….press on, see if I can find a new way outta here…”

 

    The old veteran raised his axe towards the wooden boards and made quick work with just a few swings, Henry walked through and down a set of stairs, the old steps creaked and groaned as the old man cautiously descended.

 

**THUD!**

 

Henry jumped slightly as a wooden board fell down, in alarm, the former animator swung his axe, hitting the board and chopping it in half while it was in mid air.

 

The old man gave a slightly irritated huff as he continued downwards, coming to see several shelves that held quite a few candles, bowls of liquid, cans of the old bacon soup that never really caught on, along with pictures of Bendy along with a scrawled and messy message;

 

**_He will set us free._ **

 

“Yeesh, who went all trigger happy with the crazy messages?” Henry mused to himself as he walked a bit further, spotting another one of the tape recorders like the two he spotted upstairs.

 

  With a sigh, deciding he didn’t have much to lose, the old veteran clicked the play button.

 

_ “he appears from the shadows to rain his sweet blessings upon me. The figure of ink that shines from the darkness. I see you, my savior, I pray you hear me. _

 

_ “Those old songs, yes, I still sing them. For I know you are coming to save me. And I will be swept into your final loving embrace. _

 

_ “But, love requires sacrifice. Can I get an amen?” _

 

“ **I said, can I get an amen?”**

 

Henry whipped around for the source of the oddly familiar voice, but found no one.

 

_ “You're getting old, Henry…”  _ deciding it was simply his imagination, Henry gripped his axe tightly as he walked forward, quickly noticing the Bendy cutout in front of a hastily scrawled pentagram, not too different from the one he passed out on earlier.

 

 “Man, sure are a lotta ya around here, huh? You keepin’ an eye on me little buddy?” Henry jokingly asked the cutout, he almost expected an answer, wouldn’t surprise him, honestly.

 

 Henry began to turn the corner and was met with an ink flooded hallway, with a heavy sigh, the short man pulled his arms up as he began wading through the ink, it went to his waist and he groaned as the sticky, thick liquid clung to his skin and clothes.

 

“I’m too old for this shit…” 

 

_ Step...step...step! _

 

The old animator looked up at the sound, just in time to see a rather dark figure walking past, a Bendy cutout under his arm.

 

“Hey! Hello? Excuse me? Can you help me?” Henry quickly made it out of the ink, only to be met with a Bendy cutout on the wall, standing next to a shelf chock full of bacon soup cans.

 

“Where the Hell did he go?” There wasn’t so much as any inky footprints to indicate the stranger was even there.

 

  Henry raised a brow, confused, but decided it was his old mind playing tricks on him and turned  to the other side of the hall, finding a heavy metal door right next to a switch with three blinking lights.

 

Scratching his chin, he muttered “I think I saw some switches back there, hopefully there won’t be a ton of puzzle bullshit before I can find the exit…”

 

 The short man backtracked towards the soup cans, something caught his eye; and he moved the cans until finding a button, he gave a small smile to himself as he pressed it.

 

   Henry’s eyed the soup cans in his hands for a moment  _ ‘well, can’t let em go to waste….’  _ Lifting up his fedora, he stored the cans in it before putting it back on, better to have some food if he’s gonna be here long.

 

 It wasn’t too much longer before he found the last two buttons and flipped the switch, the large, heavy metal door creaked and groaned as it rose up.

 

Gripping his trusty axe, Henry walked forward, chopping through a few wooden boards blocking the doorway and found himself looking at large, yellowed letters.

 

**_The Music Department_ **

 

Henry came down here quite a few times back when he worked in the Studio, mostly because he felt bad for Sammy and helped him clean up the ink that somehow always ended up getting dumped all over his head practically every day.

 

His eyes landed on a old poster on the wall, it was titled  **_“Bendy In….Sibling Rivalry! With Twisty The Devilish Trickster!”_ ** The poster had Bendy looking quite exasperated with another character, a female demon with one long horn on her head and one horn curving under her cheek, wearing a white and ripped looking strapless dress, she bore a tail unlike Bendy, that had a heart shape at the tip, on the poster, she held a pie, ready to throw it at Bendy’s face;

 

That was of course, Twisty, she’s just been introduced in the show a bit before Henry left, she was made as Bendy’s twin sister, which was admittedly a popular concept back in the day, she was much more devilish and mischievous than her twin, and had a bit of a violent edge, so the running gag was Bendy getting her out of trouble or trying to set her on the right path.

 

  The former animator has to squint as he moved around, it was much dimmer than the rooms and halls before, Henry felt around the walls until he stopped near a stairwell.

 

  There was a door, most likely leading to the outside, unfortunately it was flooded by ink, just his luck; thankfully, there was a switch, thinking it was his best bet, Henry pulled it.

 

 There was a rumbling hum as the lights flickered on and a jingly medley played from the speakers, Henry rubbed his eyes, thankful of the new light source, and began walking forward-

 

**_“GRAAAAH!!!”_ **

 

**** “WHAT THE HELL?!” Henry yelped as he swiped his axe at the horrible creatures that had risen from the ink, claws with the intent to kill as they attacked him.

 

 In his panic, Henry quickly swung his axe wildly in a desperate attempt to fight the inky monstrosities, the heavy blade cleaving through the fragile bodies and leaving them to burst into inky bubbles like a popped water balloon.

 

 The only problem is, the more he whacked into oblivion, the more that appeared, in his frantic attacking, Henry failed to notice one of the creatures about to strike him from behind!

 

The creature would’ve gotten him, if not for an arm swinging at it.

 

Confused, Henry turned to see what happened, and looked in shock.

 

 Standing in front of him, was a life size Twisty! It was like she jumped right off the screen! There was a few subtle differences with her cartoon counterpart however;

 

For one, she had short, white leggings, a small,  black bow on her torso, and rather than a heart shape, the tip of her tail had a shape of a spade.

 

 The Toon looked to the old man, though Henry was short, she was smaller, about to his hip, as she looked up and actually spoke! “Ya alright there, pally? Ya gotta stay on yer toes ‘round here.”

 

“...Wh-how….” Henry was too flabbergasted to make a proper response to the living cartoon in front of him.

 

Twisty turned her head a moment ‘ _ oh my god, her head is floating too, she doesn’t have a freakin’ neck!’  _ She gave an annoyed groan as another ink creature rose from a puddle.

 

“Can ya hold that thought?” She waved her hand, the cartoonish glove suddenly morphed into a black and white axe! The Toon then proceeded to cleave into the vaguely humanoid inky monstrosities.

 

  Just as the creature popped in contact with the axe-hand, more and more appeared, with a heavy sigh, Twisty morphed her other hand into an axe as well.

 

“We can talk later, looks like ya need a hand or two…” the Toon muttered as she rose her hands-turned-axes at the ready.

 

Deciding to spare any sanity he had left, Henry simply nodded as he hoisted his axe up and began swinging.

 

 It doesn’t take long to finally get them all, at least, no more of the creatures were rising from the ink puddles.

 

 Twisty morphed the twin axes back into hands as she stretched out a bit at physically impossible angles with a grunt “Whoo boy! Haven’t had a work out like that in a long time, now uh...your not from ‘round here, are ya?”

 

Henry, still exhausted from fighting the ink creatures, panted and gave a tired chuckle “What gave it away?” 

 

  “Heh, well yer the first new face I’ve seen in a pretty long time, I mean, I’ve only been around for ten years, but m’ point still stands.” The small demon explained with a lighthearted smile.

 

Wait,  _ ten?!  _ This actual living cartoon...was just a kid! Barely older than his niece, and Twisty was… just fine fighting in this nightmare of a studio?

 

The former animator looked at the Toon with a sympathetic look in his eyes “Have you been...all alone, this whole time?”

 

   Twisty seemed taken aback by the question, nervously rubbing her horn before responding “Erm, well not the WHOLE time, I had a few pals, but we got separated, I’m lookin’ fer them.”

 

_ ‘Well, if she’s all alone and looking for someone…’  _ Henry rubbed the back of his head abit awkwardly before replying “Well, since I’m here, I suppose I could...help you look for your friends, I’m already looking for an exit, might run into them.”

 

At hearing this, the Toon’s face absolutely beamed “Ya mean it? Ya’ll help me find m’ pals?” Her voice was hopeful and her tail flicked back and forth excitedly.

 

  “Well, I don’t see why not, I’m pretty lost myself, may as well make myself useful, besides… I uh- wouldn’t want a kid wandering around a place like this.” Henry replied, resting a hand on the small demon’s shoulder.

 

She smiled brightly at that before a thought came to her “Oh! I jus’ realized, I hadn’t introduced myself! Ya probably seen the posters ‘round her though, named Twisty! And who might you be, good sir?”

 

Henry gave a small chuckle, still bewildered he’s really talking to one of the cartoons he used to animate as he shook her hand “Henry, Henry Stein.”

 

 At this, Twisty’s face absolutely lit up like a Christmas tree “ _ Henry?!  _ Your really Henry??”

 

Said old man raised a brow “You’ve heard of me?” The Toon nodded vigorously, to the point her floating head was nearly a blur.

 

 “Sure as sugar have! You were practically head animator! We’re Toons, if there’s anythin’ we can recognize, it’s a skilled animator...especially if that animator is our original creator.” Twisty gave a wry smile at that last part as she gave a small wink.

 

 This took Henry aback “H-how do you know that? Joey made me keep my mouth shut about that the whole time I worked here!”

 

  Twisty gave a small chuckle “Like I said, Toons know animation better than anybody, see, we may have been created in the physical world, but our true creation, when the ol’ designers like yer self created us…” she gave a few taps to her head “Always buried somewhere in the ol’ noggin, sometimes it takes time to actually remember it, but we do. Jus’ need a little reminder to jog our memory.”

 

Huh. Now that Henry thought about it…it did make a little sense…

 

“Anywho! I think we caught up enough, we gotta find my pals, and find you an exit!” Twisty pulled a key on a ring from...honestly, Henry wasn’t even gonna try to guess at this point.

 

“Found these a few hours ago, should help with movin’ forward!” The Toon announced as she walked forward, the ring of the keys twirling on her finger and her floating head bobbing up and down like an apple in water.

 

  Henry gave a small chuckle, crazy as this is, at least the old man had someone to rely on now, even if she was just a kid.

 

——————————————————————

 

   The duo walked down the hall, there were a few open doors, but not much to take notice of other an organ and a few sketches of Bendy.

 

So, they continued forward until they reached the office of Sammy Lawrence, it had a tough glass window and the door for getting inside, was blocked by two burst ink pipes.

 

 “Well, no going through that, better lower the ink pressure before trying to go in…” Twisty nodded in agreement before her head swiveled behind her, seeing a closet, she gave a small hopeful smile before her body turned in the position her head was looking and walked over.

 

The small demon held out the set of keys and tried one with the lock, and with one satisfying click, the door unlocked, Twisty gave a fist bump to herself in triumph.

 

“Finally! We’re gettin’ somewhere, pops!” The Toon smiled wide as she open the door;

 

 Unfortunately, all that was inside was a tape recorder, and some old cans of bacon soup.

 

But, deciding it was better than nothing, Henry reaches over and pressed play on the recorder, the familiar voice of Sammy came through the old, crackling speakers.

 

_ “every artistic person needs a sanctuary. Joey Drew has his and I have mine. To enter, you need only know my favorite song… _

 

_ Beat the drum… _

 

_ The violin plays a melody… _

 

_  And the banjo gently plucks… _

 

_   sing my song and my sanctuary will open to you.” _

 

__ There was a small click as the recording ended, leaving the duo with silence.

 

__ Twisty rubbed at her chin, deep in thought “A song...instruments...I think I saw a big room with stuff like that a bit ago…”

 

Henry brightened at that “The music room! Of course! Sammy was always someone to prefer time alone, this must be a code to get into his sanctuary, with how this place was built, there could be a ink pump in there…”

 

  The Toon nodded with a smile “It’s worth a shot! I saw that there’s a projector up th’ stairs, so I’ll turn it on, and ya go an’ play the instruments, and I’ll come right down once Sam’s sanctuary opens up.”

 

 “Sounds like a plan, let’s get going.”

 

With that, the duo separated to their planned paths; Henry to the music recording studio, and Twisty up the stairs to the projector.

 

Twisty gave the projector a good, comical slap to turn it on, and quickly, Henry did the pattern from the recording, quick as his old bones let him, beat at the drum, strummed the violin, and gave the banjo a good pluck.

 

The sound of a metal door rising brought hope to the two companions.

 

 “Good job Pops!” The Toon called down “I’ll go down and scout around for the other pump, you go ahead and turn that one on and we’ll meet up back in the hall!”

 

Henry gave the small demon a thumbs up before she walked out of sight, gripping his axe, the old veteran walked forward.

 

However, he stopped a moment when he noticed a tape recorder, deciding it wouldn’t hurt to give it a listen real quick, he bent down with a grunt and pressed play.

 

_ “it may only be my second month working for Joey Drew, but I can already tell I’m going to love it here! _

 

_  “People really seem to enjoy my Alice Angel voice. Sammy says she may be as popular as Bendy some day. _

 

_ “These past few weeks I have voiced everything from talking chairs to dancing chickens. But this is the first character I have really felt a connection with. Like she’s as a part of me. _

 

_ “Alice and I, we are going places.” _

 

__ Henry raised a brow, he didn’t recognize this voice, and Alice Angel...he’s seen a good few of the character, he’d already left the Studio for the war before she was introduced, but he’d seen a few reels of the episodes she was featured in.

 

 The trope, from what little Henry’s seen, was Alice was supposed to be half angel and half demon, but embraced her demon side more than her angelic side, causing mischief, pulling pranks, and an all around trouble maker, a fitting contrast to the friendly and helpful Bendy.

 

 The two were at odds, Alice always causing trouble, and Bendy trying to set her straight and do more good, Twisty and Alice were like partners in crime, much to the exasperation of the little devil darling.

 

He chuckled at the thought, it was unfortunate Alice was so disliked among the viewers, she had a lot of potential, just suffered from the occasional badly written episode making her seem more malicious than she was probably meant to be.

 

With a small sigh, Henry turned towards Sammy’s sanctuary and as luck would have it, there was an ink pump!

 

 With a few quick turns, the sound of ink churning within the pipes could be heard, Henry smiles to himself, deciding to regroup back with Twisty, he turned back to hall and began walking out when a Bendy cutout appeared from the corner for half a second before disappearing.

 

Henry had become accustomed to the curious little cutouts and wasn’t as surprised honestly, but what he  _ was  _ surprised about was a dark figure on the balcony just...staring him down, he was about to call out to the figure when ink creatures sprung up from their dark puddles!

 

The former animator gripped his axe strongly, looks like Twisty will need to wait a bit.

 

——————————————————————

 

The small Toon turned the corner, seeing the infirmary was now drained, Twisty began cautiously walking down the steps, careful of any left behind ink puddles.

 

 An ink creature emerged from one puddle, but Twisty made quick work of them “Sorry Mister Walter.”

 

The small demon then walked over to where the ink valve was, but quickly noticed the pump lacked the valve, she only gave a light chuckle as she pulled down the lever next to it.

 

 Without missing a beat, Twisty walked down the stairwell, and turned a corner towards the inky sewers, seeing a familiar ink creature with a bowler hat, she approached slowly with a small, kind smile.

 

“Heya Mister Jack, yer lookin’ well, ya get more solid by the day! How ya been?” The creature tilted his head slightly before recognition crossed his limited features.

 

**_As well as life can be, ya little devil, how’s yer search been?_ **

 

Twisty smiled, to none-ink creatures, it was a mournful groan, but those made of ink could hear the silent ones.

 

 “Starting ta’ look up! I met my creator, Henry, an’ he’s helpin’ me look for my pals!” The Toon cheerfully replied.

 

**_Henry...hadn’t heard that name in a long time, where’s he at now?_ **

 

**** “We split to turn the ink pumps quicker, we’re s’ppose ta’ meet back up over in the hall so we can drain th’ stairwell, hopin’ ta’ find an exit fer Henry to leave after findin’ everyone, and maybe we’ll get ta’ leave too! I mean, I doubt Henry would wanna take us with him, that’d be asking too much, but we’ll still be able ta’ leave the Studio! Almost feels like a dream…” Twisty smiler blissfully to herself.

 

 The lining of where Jack’s face would be creased into what resembled a smile  **_that would be wonderful, say hi to Henry for me, will ya?_ **

 

**** Twisty smiled warmly as the inky creature handed her the valve she needed “Will do, see ya ‘round Mister Jack!”

 

As she skipped off, Jack gave a small wave.

 

**_See ya, little devil._ **

 

——————————————————————

 

 Henry slumped against the wall after exiting the room, it took forever to take care of all those ink creatures and his clothes were now completely drenched in the foul smelling ink.

 

  With a heavy sigh, the old animator started walking, the sound of his metal leg clinking against the moldy floorboards could be heard.

 

Just like they discussed, Twisty stood there, waving happily, her arm a smear as it waved comically too fast for the human eye.

 

He couldn’t help but smile at the Toon demon’s enthusiasm “I see your excited, got the ink glow going?”

 

Twisty nodded happily “Sure do! Met an ol’ pal downstairs too, not one of the friends I’m lookin’ for, but he’s real swell!”

 

 Henry chuckled with a small smile “Sounds nice, now, wanna get going?” He jabbed his thumb in the direction where Sammy’s office was.

 

 The small Toon thought for a moment before answering “Actually, I’d like to take a quick look around, make sure none of my pals are ‘round here before moving on, you can go on ahead, I’ll catch up!”

 

 “Alright, just don’t take too long!” 

 

Once Twisty was out of sight, Henry gripped his axe and walked towards Sammy’s old office, just as expected, the was drained and he made it to the door, quickly turning the knob and walking inside.

 

Aside from all the ink, the roomed practically looked just as it did thirty years ago, Henry gave a small smile and turned on the radio to see if Sammy had kept it on the same channel.

 

   As luck would have it, the familiar tune played and Henry couldn’t help but tap his foot to the beat before walking over to the lever for the ink pump, and giving it a mighty pull.

 

Now walking towards the door, hoping to check on if it really led to an exit, Henry’s mind wandered, he wondered if Twisty’s friends were nearby? Maybe after he found them he could take them all with hi-

 

**BANG!**

 

Something metal had suddenly hit Henry in the back of the head with powerful force, sending the old war vet to the ground, barely seeing the dark figure amidst his blurry vision.

 

“Rest your head, it’s time for bed.”

 

Those were the words Henry head before everything went black.

 

——————————————————————

 

   “-There we go now, nice and tight, we wouldn’t want our sheep running away now, would we?”

 

Henry blinked blearily at the voice, he  _ knew  _ that voice! And when he looked...he felt himself jump, an inky figure stood before him, wearing ragged overalls, and an old and filthy Bendy cutout head now used as a mask blocked any view of the face. But, the voice was undeniable, this was Sammy Lawrence, Henry’s old co-worker and friend.

 

“No we wouldn’t…” the old music director drawled as he held the axe Henry once held “I must admit, I am... _ honored  _ you would come all the way down here to visit me...it almost makes what I’m about to do seem... _ cruel.” _

 

__ The inky man walked over and set the axe down as he continued speaking “But the believers must honor their savior, I must have them notice me!”

 

In his ramblings, there must’ve been some recognition, the inky man got up close and personal as he looked at Henry closely “Wait...you look familiar to me...that face! ...not now, for our saviors are calling us! My little sheep…”

 

“Soon they will hear me, they will set me fr-OH MY GOD” the former music director suddenly yelled shrilly as he backpedalled in alarm.

 

 Confused, Henry looked to see what sent his old friend into a panic and quickly relaxed, Twisty seemed to have emerged from an ink puddle, and had just transformed her right hand into a rather cartoonish looking pair of scissors, about to cut Henry free.

 

  The Toon’s bobbing head turned towards Sammy rather nonchalantly “Hiya Sam, been a while, how ya been, pally?” Twisty smiled, but Henry noticed a hint of sadness to it as well.

 

“F-favorably my mistress! I-I offer you this sacrifice!” However, the small demon was quick to dismiss the very idea with a wave of her hand.

 

“Now, now Sammy, we’ve talked about this! The whole...sacrifice deal is...unneeded, especially in this case.” Twisty quickly replied.

 

   At the last part, Sammy tilted his head confusedly “Whatever do you mean, my mistress?”

 

 Twisty only chuckled as she rested her none-transformed hand on her hip “Come now, Sammy! Don’t you recognize an old co-worker when ya see one? This is Henry! One of the few workers to get outta dodge before Drew turned the place upside down and! My true creator!”

 

  This made the old music director look at Henry credulously “T-truly?! Your creator has returned?!”

 

 “Sure have Sammy-boy! An’ right now, he’s helpin’ me find my pals and also hopefully find an exit outta here!” Twisty replied with the same cheerful yet sad smile.

 

The old music director stood up straight then “In that case, allow me to accompany you, as the prophet, I live to only serve.”

 

 Both creator and creation looked at each other deep in thought, Sammy  _ was  _ offering, plus, strength in numbers.

 

  “Sure thing, Sammy! Welcome aboard, now lets-“

 

 Before the demon Toon had the chance to finish her sentence, ink creatures suddenly burst out from their puddles!

 

    Quickly, Twisty cut Henry’s ropes, the binds falling to the ground in a heap, and she stood in front of both men “Y’all stay back, I’ll take care o’ this one.”

 

 Before either could protest, Twisty began to morph and change before their eyes.

 

   Twisty’s body became long and slender, her ink dripping, her face mostly covered, save for her teeth, her cartoonish gloves shaped into sharp claws, her tail now long and spinally, her dress melded into her body, only some of the skirt and the bow being visible.

 

  The horn on the now deformed Toon’s head nearly touched the ceiling as she stood at her full height, and sucking in a deep breath before  letting out a tremendous roar.

 

Both men had to cover their ears at the piercing sound, the room itself rumbling and shook from the sheer terror.

 

  Then, with more speed than should be possible,  Twisty launcher herself at the deformed, inky creatures, her claws plowing through them with ease.

 

  The ink splattered on the walls before seeping into the wood, disappearing like it was never there.

 

 In minutes, the ink creatures were completely wiped out, the only sound being Twisty’s distorted, exhausted breathing.

 

Henry approached his new friend slowly just as her form began to shrink back with a spiraling plume of ink, she was back to normal, well mostly, her ink was melting and she looked quite haggard.

 

 “Kid? You oka-” before he could finish his sentence, the small Toon fell backwards into his arms.

 

“Whoa!” Henry quickly caught her, barely hearing Sammy’s yell of alarm, Twisty gave her creator a weak smile “Heh...s’orry fer th’ scare, Pops…been a while since I went all out…”

 

 The small Toon’s eyes then closed, Henry gave a small sigh, she must’ve passed out, he had questions, but lord knows Twisty needs to rest, Hell, he could use a breather too…

 

At Sammy’s panicked look, Henry quickly reassured his former co-worker “Don’t worry, she just fainted...used...a bit too much power at once, I think, better find somewhere safe she can rest…”

 

Sammy grabbed Henry’s axe and gave a small nod “Agreed, this way.” Gripping the axe tightly, the old music director chopped away at the debris blocking their way.

 

 There suddenly a sudden snapping sound, Henry looked to see the axe had snapped in half, the old thing must have finally given in.

 

  Thankfully, there was a door across a pool of ink, maybe they could-

 

**SPLASH!**

 

From the ink, emerged the same creature Henry saw on the first floor! It was incredibly tall, seven feet at the least, it’s body slender and constantly dripping ink, one hand was in a rather large, cartoonish glove, the other a large inky claw, horns adorned its head, one horn longer and more curved than the other, ink poured over its face like a waterfall, if it had eyes, Henry couldn’t see them, and the creature’s expression...it was unreadable as he looked at the pearly whites of the creature’s face.

 

  And then, the creature looked to the unconscious Toon in Henry’s arms, and a thunderous growl was heard from the creature’s chest, looking ready to pounce.

 

**“Let her go! Get away from her!!!”**

 

The distorted voice caught Henry off guard, but he wasted no time in grabbing Sammy with his free hand and making a break for it!

 

   Henry didn’t need to look back to know the inky creature was bounding towards them, the sound of loud, wet thumping could be heard as it charged at them.

 

Suddenly seeing an open door, Henry dived in, him and his new companions landing in a heap, quickly, Henry slammed the door closed and put a wooden plank over the door for good measure.

 

   It took a moment to catch his breath before the trio walked forward, but suddenly stopped when a lone bacon soup can rolled out from the opposite hall.

 

 Henry gulped nervously “Hello? Who’s there? I-I know your in here...come out and show yourself…”

 

  At first, there nothing, and then, right before Henry’s eyes stepped out Boris the wolf! Though he had fresh stitches on his chest, and had a fluffy tail that reminded Henry of a Shiba Inu, there was no denying it was Boris.

 

  The surprises didn’t end there, either.

 

Two other figures came from the hall, an Alice, who seemed more off-model than Boris, her dress appearing to be a black jumpsuit at further inspection, she had black, raven like wings for arms, the wings had holes in them resembling the holes in her hands in the cartoons, and it was hard to tell where the wings began and the jumpsuit ended, her hair had a long and wild look about it, the horns atop her head were longer and more jagged than in the cartoons, her halo also seemed to give off a dim, grey light.

 

 The final figure  _ looked  _ like an off-model Bendy, being much smaller than in the cartoons, bearing a heart tipped tail with a grey scar, the Bendy also had stitches over his right eye and there was no  _ visible  _ mouth.

 

“Oh my god.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, had some writers block and this is an especially long chapter, and with Tumblr about to die, had to get this out, so excuse any errors it may have

**Author's Note:**

> While I love Batim, I wanted to take some...creative liberties, give em a good happy ending.


End file.
